Jason-have fun on your trip. Are you taking your speedo? Definitely the popular model in Europe!

I had a wardrobe malfunction at the pool today. Got out after my workout only to find that there was a 2 inch split in the seam. Fortunately, it did not show from the back or the front but I definitely felt it in my under carriage. Might have to break out the shorter square leg suit next time out.

Jason-have fun on your trip. Are you taking your speedo? Definitely the popular model in Europe!

I had a wardrobe malfunction at the pool today. Got out after my workout only to find that there was a 2 inch split in the seam. Fortunately, it did not show from the back or the front but I definitely felt it in my under carriage. Might have to break out the shorter square leg suit next time out.

Jason-have fun on your trip. Are you taking your speedo? Definitely the popular model in Europe!

I had a wardrobe malfunction at the pool today. Got out after my workout only to find that there was a 2 inch split in the seam. Fortunately, it did not show from the back or the front but I definitely felt it in my under carriage. Might have to break out the shorter square leg suit next time out.

Friday....WOO HOO! Anyone racing?

ok, that's HILARIOUS!!!

Sorry about your flight Jason. My flight on Southwest to FL was cancelled this am too (weather). I was supposed to leave at 8 and direct flight arrival at 11. Now I'm out a 2, change planes, arrive at 7. Normally I wouldn't be bothered by it but we're only going until Wednesday. Oh well.

Originally posted by wannabefaster Major winter storm. Call from Delta: We are sorry, we have cancelled your flight to Paris. Wait. What? They can get us on a flight out on Monday night. We would get to Paris on Tuesday morning. We were coming back on Friday afternoon. Not sure if the Paris trip is a go any more. Total bummer.

I am sooooooo sorry to hear this. I know you two were looking forward to some away time. Can you come up with a US based plan B if it doesn't work out?

Thanks for all of the sympathy. We are definitely stuck in Michigan for the week. Maybe it was for the better, my daughter was freaking out about us leaving for a week right before the holiday. In a way it is kind of peaceful. We have nothing scheduled for the week because we were supposed to be out of town so we can just relax and make it up as we go along.

I put my post on the main page about going over 500,000 yards for the year in swimming. I never thought I would swim that much in a year. I keep looking to see where I made an error in my logging but I think it is accurate. There is a guy over on ST who is logging 1,500,000+ a year (I think), so 500,000 isn't that impressive Now, if all that yardage would just yield some speed gains in the water. Like I said in the thread, swimming slow and steady, which is what I believe I default to, yields slow and steady race results. I am really trying to get in some very hard swimming with each session. I have some benchmarks that I am using and they are getting easier to hit so maybe it is working.

I ran last night on snow covered sidewalks, slipping and sliding all over the place. The same run on dry pavement would be no big deal but today I am more sore than would be expected. I think all of the sliding and body adjustments that running on snow requires engages a whole different set of muscles than would be typically used. It makes me think again about making sure to get in at least one "strength" session per week to keep those muscles active.

Jason sorry about the Paris trip. Hopefully you can fit it in sometime in the near future.

Nice job on the yardage in the pool. There is some truth to the slow and steady swim practice leading to slow and steady swimming in a race. I know you have a coach so I don't want to interfere with his training program but will offer a suggestion if you are getting a break during the off season. I think I mentioned this earlier but going into our season was always a few weeks of the same focused swimming. 5000 yards in either 1000 x 5 or 500 x 10. No drills, no alternate strokes unless you were competing in them, just long hard yards. Swim each 500 or 1000 hard out, find a power stroke and maintain your rhythm and then pick up the turn over and finish hard the last 100.

Pre-season we would do that 6 days a week for three weeks. Probably a bit excessive for a triathlete but you get the idea. Just like running, setting down a firm foundation for the season.

It is NOT fun but did get pretty competitive when you have only one person per lane and swimming against your teammates. It was easy in that environment to keep motivated.

I am still training and getting workouts from my coach but I do think that there is some real benefit to some long stuff, done as hard as you can. A couple years ago I did the "postal swim' and I thought that the pacing and effort required to do that benefitted my subsequent swimming tremendously. Right now the longest intervals are things like 6 x 400 or 5 x 500 after a 1000 yards of warmup and drills. Today was straight in and 25 x 100 on ascending rest intervals. I think that this is the first time ever that every 100 was under 1:30, getting faster as the set progressed, so I am happy. I am going to keep plugging away and see where it gets me. Mostly it is just trying to be sure to really push the effort level on every set in an attempt to get used to swimming faster and how it feels (as far as how taxing it is). I have said it before, but I know how to push the run but still work to figure out how to give max effort in the swim and how to know what max effort is for different distances.

If any of you are still reading this you will note that the new mentor groups are opening soon. Randy and I have our names in the queue and if you are interested in continuing we would love to have every one of you back for another session. If you want to branch out and see what other mentors have to offer, we encourage that as well and our feelings will not be hurt

I'll still check this thread periodically but it looks like new groups will be forming soon. This has been a great group and I appreciate all of the input and advice that has been provided. As Jason said, you are all welcome to join us again, join another group or even become a mentor. This has been a fantastic group with many with some really amzing accomplishments.

I hope everyone has a fantastic 2014! Also, have a Safe and Happy Holiday/Christmas Season...hope you get some nice tri goodies!